


When you reach for my hand

by versti_fantur



Series: Everytime I ran, I ran to you (even though I hate running) [1]
Category: LazyTown
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Headaches & Migraines, M/M, Sickfic, Sportacus totally buys clothes at the soup store
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 14,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23837344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/versti_fantur/pseuds/versti_fantur
Summary: Robbie wakes up one day with an awful, terrible, bad headache and one flippy sports elf tries his best to help.
Relationships: Robbie Rotten/Sportacus
Series: Everytime I ran, I ran to you (even though I hate running) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1744408
Comments: 72
Kudos: 89





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hehehe.. this definitely isnt inspired by my own two fucking week long migraine... haha... not at all......

It started as nausea, a sickness twisting in his stomach and up into his throat. At first, Robbie assumed he’d just eaten a bit too much cake, or accidentally used expired ingredients, and so just swallowed some aspirin before curling up to sleep in his orange chair, burying his face in the fluff. Thankfully the brats had quietened down (well, it’d be strange if they hadn’t, since it was 2am, but that was irrelevant) and so he managed to catch a few hours, his purple blanket tucked up to his chin and his matching sleep mask—embroidered with his initials, obviously—blocking out the dimly flashing lights of his machines.

As soon as he woke, though, and took off the sleep mask, he immediately wished he hadn’t; a throbbing pain from behind his eyes ripped through the dreary barely-awake haze, and he clutched his hands to his face to block out any light, forehead wrinkled with the effort of remaining conscious. As much as he wanted to crawl back beneath the blanket and sleep for the rest of eternity, (and even longer than that if he was given the chance), he knew it’d only get worse if he didn’t take painkillers, so he stumbled to the kitchen, trying to keep his eyes as firmly shut as possible without tripping over everything. His habit of never picking anything up from the floor was really coming to bite him in the ass now, wasn’t it? He eventually found a packet of ibuprofen and took some, swallowing the pills dry and instantly regretting it as he almost choked. He grabbed a glass of water—even he could admit that soda would only increase his suffering—and slowly sipped at it as he made his way back to his chair, the pain now having spread to his temples too. Robbie pulled the eye mask back on and tried to bury himself under the blanket, but everywhere was _Still. Too. Bright!_ Ugh. And he wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway, not with the brats waking up and starting their daily marching band exercises or whatever (They didn’t, in fact, do marching band, but they were indeed very loud) which was all being projected, at strangely high volume, directly into Robbie’s lair.

All the noise seemed to turn into one giant, constant thrum, pounding against the walls of Robbie’s skull, so much so that he barely even registered the clanking from the entrance to his lair, indicating someone’s arrival.

“Robbie? Robbie!” Sportacus yelled as he shot out of the pipe, his crysral flashing far too brightly, and Robbie groaned; half at the noise and half at the fact that _Sportakook_ had arrived. As if the elf could help _him_!

“Robbie!” Sportacus repeated, still too loud, having spotted him, and in a split second had cartwheeled over, “What’s wrong? Can’t you sleep?”

“No, well yes, but that’s not-” Robbie began, wincing as Sportacus lifted up the eye mask.

“I can get you some warm milk! And I can sing you a lullaby! That always helps Ziggy get to sleep! Or I could find you some lavender, or-” He kept talking as he flipped to the kitchen, returning faster than Robbie thought it was even possible to with a glass of milk, and knelt beside Robbie’s chair, _still talking_.

“Shut the fuck up, Sportaloon!” Robbie eventually managed to interrupt the elf, who looked rather deeply hurt at the sudden aggression. “I’ve got a migraine and you’re _Not. Helping._ ”

Realisation dawned on Sportacus’ face and he set down the milk on Robbie’s side table.

“Would you like me to get the kids to quieten down?” he said softly and after a moment, Robbie nodded. “I could disable your sound system too, just to make sure it’s extra quiet,”

Before Robbie could reply, Sportacus had found the drop down speaker, and, for lack of a better word, utterly destroyed it. He’d probably only meant to unplug it, but he’d inadvertently removed all the wires, including the support chain, and it fell to the ground with a dull clank. Had he been in a more competent state, Robbie would’ve yelled at him, but as it stood, the elf had actually brought him a bit of peace and quiet so his outrage could wait a little bit longer.

“Oops, sorry Robbie,” Sportacus whispered, wincing as the speaker hit the floor. And then again as his crystal started to chime. He bit back his usual ‘someone’s in trouble!’ replacing it with a hurried “I’ll come back to check on you later, okay?” 

Robbie clamped his hands over his ears, mumbling something unintelligible, and Sportacus took the hint, turning and running towards the exit ladder.

Finally. Peace and quiet. Or at least some semblance of it. The brats shouting could still be heard through the ceiling, albeit far more muffled now the speaker system wasn’t amplifying it a million times louder than necessary. He really should get around to altering that at some point, he didn’t even know why it was that loud in the first place—it had probably malfunctioned at some point and he’d been too lazy to fix it. But that didn’t matter, all that was important now was silence and _sleep_ , since they were the only chance he had of getting rid of the migraine relatively quickly. As he pulled his blanket tighter around him, he remembered the milk Sportacus had brought him and groaned, he should probably drink it, it might actually help, but he also didn’t really want to give Sportacus the satisfaction of having been _right_ about something.

After 10 minutes of not falling asleep, Robbie finally swallowed his pride and caved in, lifting up his eye mask just enough to grab the glass without it falling to the floor, he took a long sip. It was… oddly sweet for a drink made by Sportahealthy… Heh, _Sportasweet_ his mind unhelpfully suggested.

“What?!” He said to absolutely no one in his empty lair, why the hell had his brain thought of _that?_ It must be the migraine messing with him. Obviously. But then the pain around his temples flared up again and thinking became too difficult, so he gulped down the rest of the milk and closed his eyes, eventually falling into a restless, dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from Radioactive by Marina and the Diamonds


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 2 because I just finished it and I have no impulse control

True to his word, Sportacus had indeed asked the kids to keep quiet, and suggested that maybe they played on the other side of town, so they’d be further away from Robbie’s lair.

“But why?” Trixie had asked, kicking a football up and down as she spoke.

“Because Robbie’s not feeling well, and I promised to try and help him feel better,” Sportacus replied, catching the ball when she accidentally kicked it too hard.

“Oh no! Did he get sick from eating too much candy and cake?” Ziggy gasped almost dropping his lollypop.

“No, he’s got a migraine, which is a really bad headache that makes you sensitive to light and sound,” he explained, and Trixie pulled a face.

“A headache? Everyone gets headaches! Can’t he just take some medicine and let us play?” 

Sportacus frowned and shook his head, but before he could respond, Stephanie had already begun telling off her friend.

“That’s not nice Trixie! My mom gets them and they leave her in bed for days! Sometimes she can’t even open her eyes cuz it hurts so much!” She realised she was shouting, and immediately lowered her voice as she continued, “They’re not just headaches they’re loads worse and you should apologise.”

Sportacus was a little taken aback by Stephanie’s outburst, but it had certainly got the point across to Trixie, who stared at her shoes, a guilty look on her face. Wanting to diffuse the situation, he patted Trixie’s shoulder, “Why don’t we go over to the sports field and play some baseball?” Stephanie’s anger subsided, and the other children’s faces brightened. Shouts of “Yeah!” and “Let’s go!” echoed in the empty town square, followed by quieter, apologetic whispers of “Sorry” as they realised their mistake.

As the kids ran on to the sports field, Sportacus shot one last look back in the direction of Robbie’s lair, hoping that when he returned later, Robbie would be in feeling at least a little bit better. Maybe he could take him some soup?

It was almost 6pm by the time Sportacus was able to return to Robbie’s lair, a flask of homemade fish soup tucked under his arm, as well as a couple of other ingredients in case Robbie refused to eat the soup. He knocked lightly on top of the hatch before opening it and jumping down, trying to make as little noise as possible as he travelled down the pipe. Landing on his feet, he let his eyes adjust to the darkness before making his way over to Robbie, tiptoeing around the scattered parts and inventions that lay scattered on the floor. Unsure if Robbie was awake, and unwilling to rouse him if he was, Sportacus set the soup down on the side table, noticing the empty glass of milk and smiling, hoping Robbie had enjoyed it, since he’d added honey to make it extra sweet. He lingered for a moment, pulling the purple blanket higher from where it’d slipped down to Robbie’s waist.

“What do you want, Sportacreep?” Robbie groaned, his voice slightly hoarse from disuse and Sportacus jumped back, wondering quite how long Robbie had been aware of his presence.

“I, uh, brought you soup,” he said a moment too late, “And some other stuff, in case you didn’t like it.” He held out the small bag, then realised Robbie couldn’t see it and dropped his arm again, feeling slightly stupid.

Pushing himself up into a sitting position, Robbie massaged his temples with his hands, then lifted his sleeping mask. He barely managed a second before he had to squeeze his eyes shut again, and he slouched back against the chair. Sportacus frowned concernedly, and set the bag on the floor.

“Do you want me to get you anything?”

“Painkillers, _lots_ of painkillers.” He pulled his eye mask back down dejectedly. “And cake,” He added as an afterthought.

“Robbie…” Sportacus shook his head, rolling his eyes in the darkness.

“ _Fine_ , I’ll settle for some cookies instead,”

“Only if you eat the soup first,” Sportacus said with a small smile as Robbie finally relented; he wouldn’t force the man to eat healthily if he really didn’t want to, but this seemed like a small victory, so he’s take it. Making his way to the kitchen, he found the packet of ibuprofen and filled a glass with water. He grabbed a packet of biscuits from the counter, deliberately avoiding looking at the nutrition information, and tried very hard not to drop anything as he bounced back to Robbie, who made a face as he swallowed the pills. 

“Now cookies?” Robbie held his hand out expectantly, but instead of the cookies, Sportacus handed him the flask.

“No, _soup_.”

“I suppose you’re the kind of guy who _would_ buy clothes at the soup store,” Robbie muttered to himself as he lifted the eye mask again and tried to unscrew the lid.

“What?” Sportacus frowned.

“Ugh, never mind,” Robbie rolled his eyes beneath the mask, _of course_ Sportaflip was oblivious to any sort of pop culture references.

“I didn’t get the soup from a store, I made it myself from my Amma’s recipe,” Sportacus said defensively, still confused. 

Great. Sportakook hadn’t just brought him soup, he’d brought him _homemade_ soup! He’d put actual _time_ and _effort_ into making it, and Robbie knew he’d be met with those goddamn puppy dog eyes if he refused to eat it. This was emotional blackmail! Robbie was… actually sort of impressed, he didn’t know the elf had it in him to do that. He just wished it was directed at literally anyone other than him though.

“Just ask the kids,” he sighed, finally managing to open the flask, and he sniffed at it. Ew, fish. Sportacus’ frown fell away into a smile as Robbie took a tentative sip and didn’t immediately recoil and gag. “It’s not… terrible,” Robbie eventually said, and Sportacus practically beamed. _Sportasmile_ , Robbie’s brain supplied. Why the hell did it keep doing that??

“You don’t need to stand there and watch me eat, Sportastalker,” he said, swallowing a mouthful of soup.

“Oh, right, yes, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Sportacus seemed to snap out of a daze, and he turned towards the exit ladder. “I hope you feel better soon Robbie,”

“Wait- Sportasoup!” Sportacus stopped with one hand on a rung of the ladder, looking back towards Robbie. “Um, thanks for, uh-” he gestured to the flask and bag of food. 

Sportacus smiled wide, “It’s no problem.” And then he was gone, climbing up the ladder, and Robbie was alone again. The pressure at his temples had eased slightly, which he was glad about. Hopefully he’d be better by tomorrow, he thought as he ate the rest of the soup, only reaching for the cookies until he’d finished it completely, just like he’d promised Sportacus. But only because it actually tasted sort of okay, not at all out of a sense of obligation towards Sportaflop. Definitely not that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos give me life <3
> 
> [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTQcvDQb6LQ) is a link if you don't know the soup store thing


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've felt like shit all day, and my friends are all ignoring me, so I distracted myself by writing pure fluff. I'm okay. Totally.  
> Also how the heck did this get 60 hits already ??

The next morning, (or maybe it was afternoon, Robbie couldn’t tell—there were no windows in his lair) as he stretched his arms, there was a brief moment of hope, where he could barely feel any pain in his head. Relief at last! But barely a moment after he realised it, it was as though someone punched him in the face with a brick wall. Not as large of a brick wall as yesterday mind you, but a brick wall nonetheless. Groaning, he slapped a hand to his forehead and willed the pain to go away. It didn’t. 

He reached blindly towards the side table, grabbing the packet of cookies Sportacus had left him last night, but growled once he realised it was empty. Stupid cookies. He screwed up the packet and threw it in the vague direction of the kitchen, remembering a second too late that he actually needed to go there to get more painkillers. Still, throwing it had felt good so why regret it. That was one of the benefits of being lazy—regretting anything took up far too much effort, so he never did it.

\----

Meanwhile, Sportacus jumped off the ladder from his airship, landing near the treehouse just as the kids began to run outside. He wished he’d woken up earlier so he could’ve checked up on Robbie before meeting them, but it was too late now. Maybe he’d be able to slip away in an hour or so, once they’d already begun their games.

“Hey kids! Have you all had a good healthy breakfast?” He asked with a smile as they came to a halt in front of him, already chattering. He was met with enthusiastic “Yeah!”s and one single guilty look from Ziggy who subtly tried to hide a handful of taffy behind his back. Shaking his head, he roundhouse kicked the tree behind him, and an apple fell into his waiting hands. “Here you go Ziggy,” he handed it to the boy who stared at him in awe.

“That was so cool!!” Ziggy exclaimed, despite having seen Sportacus perform much the same trick many times before, and gleefully took the apple.

“Try and remember to eat something good in the morning, as it gives you all the energy you need to start the day! Candy will only give you short term energy, so you’d be tired after only a little bit of playing,” he patted Ziggy’s head reassuringly as the boy looked down glumly. “Don’t worry, you can still eat some candy later if you really want to.” Ziggy brightened up at his words, nodding. “Oh, before we go and do some sports this morning, I actually have a question for all of you,” Sportacus added, turning back to the group, having remembered Robbie’s words from the previous evening. “What does buying clothes at the soup store mean?” A badly stifled laugh from the back of the group drew his attention, and Pixel pressed a few buttons on his wrist computer and a projection flickered to life.

“Maybe not in front of uh…?” Pixel said, gesturing towards Ziggy as everyone started to crowd around him, and Sportacus nodded.

“Ok! If you guys want to head over to the sports field we’ll meet you there in a minute?” There were a few annoyed grumbles and complaints but they left without too much protest, and Pixel clicked play.

A minute or so later, and Sportacus was about 500% more confused than he had been before. Aside from the language (which he disapproved of but Pixel was almost a teenager so it was doubtful he hadn’t come across it before) the whole video made no sense, especially in the context Robbie had said.

“So what would it mean if someone said you were the kind of person to buy clothes at the soup store?” He asked, and Pixel laughed again, leaving Sportacus feeling as though there was some whole inside joke he hadn’t been privy to.

“Why? Did Robbie say that to you?” Pixel giggled.

“How did you know it was Robbie?” 

“Lucky guess? He’s probably right though,” He grinned as he ran off to join his friends, and Sportacus frowned, still none the wiser, but cartwheeled and flipped over to meet them regardless. He’d just ask Robbie again when he went to see him later.

\----

If there was one thing Robbie hated about migraines (besides the obvious things), it was the constant, mind numbing boredom that accompanied them. Usually he’d be thankful for all the time to sit around and do nothing in absolute silence, but that was sitting and doing nothing _by choice_ , not because he was forced into it. Hell, he couldn’t even _sleep_! He longed to be able to invent a new device to chase Sportanerd out of town- well… Maybe inconvenience him a bit, nothing serious or permanent. He _had_ brought him snacks after all.

But another thing about sitting around bored all day was that it gave him a lot of time to think. And thinking has oft been known to be dangerous. Especially when one has taken slightly more than the recommended dose of painkillers. It led to all sorts of unnecessary thoughts, such as _‘I hope Sportacute comes back’_ and _‘That soup he made wasn’t actually that bad’_. Which in turn led to yelling out loud to himself “What?! He’s not _cute_! And that soup was _awful_! Ok, maybe he is a little bit cute… NO!” But then the echoing of his own voice was far too loud for comfort and he ended up burrowing his head underneath a cushion. Curse this stupid migraine for ruining his day. And probably his life.

\----

Due to yet another string of comically unfathomable accidents and incidents that filled his day with slightly-above-average heroic duties, it was the evening before Sportacus had the chance to visit Robbie again. Before he’d gone to sleep last night, he’d found a book on his bookcase about acupressure, and had read through it in the hope of finding something to help Robbie, and had discovered a few pressure points that were supposed to relieve headaches. Maybe Robbie would let him try it he wondered as he knocked on the hatch and slid down the pipe.

“You want to _what_?!” Ah. Well he should’ve expected that. 

“Accupressure,” Sportacus tried again, “You apply pressure to certain points and it helps alleviate headaches.” Robbie, who’d managed to remove his eye mask at some point during the day, eyed him warily. It sounded suspiciously too much like elf-magic mumbo jumbo for him. “I just want to help you.” 

That wasn’t fair. Robbie just _knew_ Sportacus was giving him those damn puppy dog eyes, even though it was too dark for him to see them properly. 

“ _Fine_ , do it if it’ll make you happy,” He begrudgingly replied, and Sportacus beamed, darting forward to kneel in front of Robbie’s chair, and Robbie froze. He didn’t think this accu-whatever would involve _that_.

“Can I take your hand, Robbie?” Sportacus asked, and Robbie relaxed. So it wasn’t what he’d imagined. Not that he was imagining that. Of course not. Awkwardly, he held out his hand and Sportacus took it; he hands were smooth, and warmer than Robbie had expected, and caused him to shiver. How long had it been since anyone had held his hand, he wondered, it must’ve been years at least. But Sportacus didn’t seem to notice, and was instead rubbing small circles at the juncture between Robbie’s thumb and pointer finger. He wasn’t sure whether or not it was actually helping his headache, but it certainly was relaxing. As was Sportacus’ occasional talking, not about anything of real importance, and Robbie wasn’t paying attention to the words anyway, but the timbre of his voice was soothing. 

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he’d become increasingly drowsy as Sportacus slowly made his way over his hand and up to his wrist, though as Sportacus eventually let go his eyes shot wide open again.

“Don’t go,” the words were out of his mouth before his brain caught up to what he was saying.

“I have to, Robbie, it’s almost 8:08,” Sportacus said reluctantly, taking Robbie’s hand and stroking it comfortingly again.

“You could stay here, there’s room, and I-” he broke off, his tired mind still deliberating whether to say the next words or not.

“And you what?” Sportacus gazed up at him with those soft blue eyes, and Robbie felt something flippy in his stomach.

“And I don’t want to be alone,” he whispered, looking away with embarrassment. How pathetic that sounded.

“Then I’ll stay,” Sportacus stood up and pulled off his boots, then hopped onto the orange recliner next to him. Robbie stiffened slightly as Sportacus curled up into his side, but after a moment relaxed again. It was only Sportacus after all; he was probably asleep already. But Robbie couldn’t help but feel that flipping in his stomach again as he moved his purple blanket to cover both of them. This didn’t mean anything though, right? Sportasnooze would probably do this for anyone who asked him. He didn’t need Robbie’s _feelings_ making it all awkward. With that thought flashing like a neon sign in his head, Robbie closed his eyes and wished for sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos make my days less shitty lmao


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? Actual Plot? A bit of angst? Whatever next! xD
> 
> Also I'm kinda looking for a beta reader so if you're interested then let me know I guess :)

The first thing Sportacus noticed as he woke up was that it was still dark, which was odd since he always was got up at sunrise, but then as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, and the person in his arms shifted- wait, what? Oh yeah, Robbie had asked him to stay. He sighed contentedly, not fully awake yet, which was also odd since usually he’d be raring to go the second he opened his eyes. It was probably because of the cuddling—back home he’d rarely sleep alone, always platonically cuddling with his friends or siblings, but here, humans seemed horrified by the idea. Plus he didn’t have many options he could even _ask_ since Lazytown’s population was so small, so he’d settled on sleeping alone. And it had been fine; a little lonely perhaps, but as long as he didn’t concentrate on it too much he could live with it. But last night had reminded him of just how comforting it was to have someone else with him as he slept, the warmth and safety they provided, and he gave to them in turn. He’d missed it.

A small smile settled on his lips as he sleepily gazed down at Robbie, who looked so relaxed and peaceful for once; his hair falling out of its usual style and curling slightly, his nose occasionally twitching as he burrowed against Sportacus’ chest. A blush coloured Sportacus’ cheeks as he rested his head back against the orange fluff, something felt… different to normal, and he didn’t want to leave. Technically he didn’t have to, the kids would survive for a while without him, and his crystal would alert him of any real danger, but at the same time he knew how apprehensive Robbie was about physical contact, even the acupressure he’d done last night was a big step, and if he woke up and Sportacus was still so close to him… well, Sportacus didn’t even want to think about what might happen.

Ruefully, he detangled his arms from around Robbie and pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the twinge in his chest at the soft noise Robbie made as he pulled away. It was the right thing to do if he didn’t want to hurt him, and even the idea of hurting Robbie was painful, so he picked up his things and tiptoed over to the ladder, giving one last lingering glance to the man in the chair before climbing up and away.

\----

Robbie was cold. Not the usual cold that came from living in an underground bunker with a temperamental heating system, but a cold that signified something was missing. The kind of cold his purple blanket couldn’t fix. Rubbing his eyes, he glanced around for Sportacus, but the other side of the chair was empty. Still a bit warm to the touch, but cool enough to indicate he’d been gone for a while. He pushed down a feeling that was definitely not disappointment and sat up, stretching out his arms to relieve the crick in his shoulders. He’d woken in a much more curled up position than normal, and he really hoped he hadn’t reached out and hugged Sportacus whilst he slept. Ugh, how awkward that would’ve been. Because he definitely hadn’t dreamt about holding him, or being held by him. No he hadn’t dreamt that at all, because villains do _not_ think about heroes like that. Even if they are cute.

“He’s _not_ cute!” He yelled into the silence, determined that if he just said it enough he’d start to believe it, “I don’t even _like_ him!” The empty room didn’t reply, but Robbie could tell it was calling him a liar. So what if he was? Lying was evil and he was a villain; therefore it was literally his job. “Ugh, stupid _Sportacrush_ ,” he groaned and ran his hands through his hair, stopping to massage his temples to relieve his headache before realising it was gone. He tried focusing on something intently; no pain. He tried standing up and walking around; nothing. He tried staring at one of the flashing machine lights; it made him a bit dizzy but otherwise he was fine. 

“Finally!” He cried, doing a little dance on the spot, “I can be _lazy_ again!” He cringed a little at the echo, maybe that was a bit _too_ loud. But he was cured! Maybe Sportaflip had used his elf magic on him, or that weird hand massage thing had worked, but Robbie didn’t care. He was fine again and that was all that mattered. But if Sportaspell _had_ used magic on him he’d be annoyed. Obviously. 

Going over to his automatic cake creator 7000, he pushed a few buttons and pulled a lever, and a large slice of chocolate cake covered in frosting slid out along the conveyer belt, a fork sticking out of the top for convenience’s sake. Grabbing it, he flopped back onto the chair and ate a large bite, savouring the taste with an exaggerated “Mmmmmm!” He’d always been a fan of ignoring his feelings and replacing them with sugar, and this cake was especially delicious, so all thoughts of Sportacutie be damned, he was going to enjoy this cake.

\----

“Hey Sportacus!” Stephanie cried as soon as she saw her friend backflip down the street, running over to meet him. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you! We need your help!”

“What’s wrong? Is someone in trouble?” Sportacus said, instantly serious.

“No, no, everyone’s fine, we just need your help planning something,” she glanced around conspiratorially, and beckoned him to bend down so she could whisper in his ear.

“Of course I’ll help!” Sportacus grinned after she’d finished explaining, “Tell me what you need me to do!”

“Thanks Sportacus,” she smiled, before shouts from the sports field caught her attention. “Come on, we’ve got so much to do!” She took off in the direction of her friends at top speed, and, with a sense of pride swelling in his chest, Sportacus followed, handspringing over the walls to the delight of the other children. What he found when he arrived though was surprising to say the least. Standing in front of the others with a portable chalkboard covered in ideas and plans, Stephanie and Pixel had begun assigning roles to the others, it was all very business-like. Unwilling to interrupt them, Sportacus sat down next to Trixie and listened intently. They’d actually put far more effort and detail into this than he’d expected, and he found himself already looking forward to it, if only he could pull off his own role in the plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos bring me such joy <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This probably should've been two chapters but I couldn't figure out where to split them so have two in one I guess xD
> 
> Also I increased the rating to T because apparently I forgot swearing makes it not G oops

The lights were on as Sportacus jumped down the hatch into Robbie’s lair, and as he landed on the cold metal floor he was greeted to the sight of Robbie bent over a work station, tinkering with some device, a large metal helmet covering his head. That was probably why he hadn’t acknowledged Sportacus’ knocking, or why he was yet to turn around and notice him. But then Robbie leant further forward to grab a tool of some sort and Sportacus had to avert his eyes and desperately try and remove the blush that had suddenly appeared on his face before Robbie saw him. He was _not_ going to make this tentative friendship (could he call it that yet?) weird by staring at Robbie’s ass. Even if it _was_ a nice ass. Ugh, no, stop thinking about that!

He cleared his throat to get Robbie’s attention, and again when the first one didn’t work. There was a clanking sound as Robbie dropped his tools in shock and spun around, wrenching his helmet from his head.

“Haven’t you heard of knocking, Sportasneak?” Robbie rubbed at his thumb, having dropped the device on it.

“Sorry Robbie, I did but I don’t think you heard me,” Sportacus replied sheepishly, his voice softer than usual in case noise still hurt Robbie’s head. “Are you feeling better?”

“Yes I am,” Robbie frowned, “You didn’t use your elf magic on me, did you?”

“What? No! My magic isn’t that powerful, and healing was never really my strong suit to begin with,” he smiled ruefully, “If it was I would’ve asked if you wanted me to help you, but I’d never have done it without your permission Robbie.” 

Robbie visibly relaxed, “It must have been that weird accu-whatever you did then.”

“Accupressure,” 

He hummed in response. “Yeah, I should probably thank you for that,” He pulled a face at the word ‘thank you’ but carried on before Sportacus could interrupt. “So, uh, thanks. And for staying over, I mean, uh- it really helped.” He ducked his head and turned back to his workbench before he could see Sportacus’ reaction.

“It was no trouble, I’d do it again if you needed it.” Sportacus smiled warmly, even though he knew Robbie couldn’t see it. “But I’ve brought you some more soup if you want it.” He opened the bag he was holding and took out another pale blue flask, white and black stripes running down both sides, mimicking his trousers in a way that Robbie found both comical and endearing. He jogged over to stand beside Robbie and set the flask down next to the parts on the bench.

“Great! More healthy fish water.” Robbie said sarcastically, glaring at the offensive food item, but Sportacus just laughed, his smile causing Robbie’s own lips to twitch upwards at the corners, just a little. He was standing so close that if Robbie could easily reach over and take Sportacus’ hand with his own. But he didn’t. Instead he looked back up to Sportacus’ face, just missing the way the elf’s eyes darted back to the workbench so he wouldn’t be caught staring.

They both jumped apart as Sportacus’ crystal started bleeping, Robbie wincing from the noise. Sportacus gave him an apologetic look and a hurried “I’ll see you soon? Goodbye Robbie!” before dashing towards the ladder and climbing out of the lair, which suddenly felt a whole lot more empty than it had before.

\----

One of these days Sportacus should really have a word with the children about the dangers of climbing trees, because the amount of times they got stuck in them was becoming rather alarming. This time it was Stingy dangling from a high branch, apparently trying to prove a point that he could climb higher than Trixie. As it turned out, he couldn’t, and subsequently he was stuck. One backflip and convenient ladder twirl later though, and Sportacus was able to carry him back down to safety, the other kids cheering as though their friend hadn’t just been seconds from serious injury.

“Thank you Sportacus!” Stingy said, brushing a few leaves off his shirt once he was back on solid ground and ignoring Trixie’s “I told you I could go higher than you!” comment.

“You’re welcome Stingy, but can you all promise to be more careful when climbing trees? I might not always be here to save you, you know.” Sportacus leaned against the tree as he spoke. Ziggy stared at him, wide eyed, tightly gripping his lollypop.

“You’re not leaving are you?” 

“No, no, not for a long time,” Sportacus shook his head reassuringly to dispel Ziggy’s worries, “Robbie’s feeling better today,” he added, changing the subject, and the kids’ faces immediately brightened.

“Really? We can have everything set up for tomorrow afternoon!” Stephanie bounced on the balls of her feet in excitement, “You still need to convince him to come, though.” 

Oh, yeah, he hadn’t quite figured out how to do that yet. “Don’t worry, he’ll be there, I promise.” If only he felt as confident as he sounded. “Now who wants to play some baseball?”

\----

Robbie couldn’t believe he was voluntarily eating fish soup. _Again_. Think of all the _vitamins_ he was giving himself! Ugh! He’d contemplated just pouring it down the sink as a representation of draining away his feelings, and then contemplated just pouring it way without the feelings thing because ‘pouring away feelings’ sounded like too much mental effort. But then he opened the flask, and his stomach rumbled at the smell. And well, making a different lunch would go against his laziness principal… Plus, the soup didn’t smell horrible, and Sportacus had made it especially for him…

“Ack, this must’ve been Sportacute’s plan all along! To seduce me into being healthy!” He groused between mouthfuls of soup he would never admit to enjoying, “I mean Sportaflop!” he corrected himself loudly. Ignoring the silent judgement of his lair, he toyed with the device he’d been working on; it wasn’t particularly complicated, a handheld vacuum modified to only suck up specific items. One of which just happened to be stupid blue hats belonging to stupid blue elves. The part that was troubling him was the propulsion system which would shoot the item out the other end—he couldn’t figure out how to calibrate the distance properly. All his tests had either sent things barely a foot behind him, or so far away they’d ricocheted off the walls and he’d had to cower beneath his work bench until they finally stopped. 

He’d also have to account for the weight of the item he’d pick up and adjust the propulsion for that too… Hmm. His nose twitched as he concentrated, lost in thought. At least this inventing meant his mind wasn’t continually flickering back to Sportaswe- _Sportanerd_.

He conveniently ignored the fact that the entire purpose of the device was to let him finally see Sportacus’ hair. Because that wasn’t important. Obviously.

\----

As it turned out, executing a plan was a lot more difficult than Sportacus had anticipated. The amount of thought and mental gymnastics he’d had to perform to follow the kids’ instructions, well, he honestly didn’t know how Robbie could do it so often and still call himself “lazy”. It wasn’t like his usual ‘plans’, which were fairly unstructured, and focused on how to save a child with the nearest form of sports equipment as quickly as possible. No, this one had detailed instructions and required him to, well, not _lie_ per se, but bend the truth a little. Unfortunately, he wasn’t particularly good at it, and he’d spent the previous evening and all of this morning trying to think of what to say, but he’d continually drawn a blank.

“Hey Robbie!” He arrived at the lair by late morning, hoping Robbie would be awake by now, and schooled his features into a cheerful smile. Hopefully it would keep Robbie from becoming suspicious. 

“What is it, Sportablush?” Robbie said, looking up from his current invention, which looked remarkably similar to a handheld vacuum, but with several blinking lights along the side. Wait, was he blushing? If he hadn’t been before, the accusation meant his cheeks were now definitely coloured scarlet. Oops.

“I, um, I wondered if you wanted to, uh, do a thing this afternoon?” There was a slight tremor in his voice from his nerves but Robbie didn’t seem to notice.

“A thing?” Robbie raised his eyebrows and leant against the work station, a spanner still in his hand.

“Yeah, a thing! With me?” And some other people, but he didn’t need to mention that right now,

“Such as…?” 

Oh no. Sportacus hadn’t thought this far ahead, and his brain scrambled to find an activity Robbie wouldn’t immediately reject. It was a short list, which wasn’t that surprising, all things considered.

“We could… go to a restaurant? Pablo’s is meant to be good?” He suggested; he’d never been into Lazytown’s only restaurant, nor was he sure he could actually eat anything on the menu, but he hoped Robbie wasn’t aware of that.

“You’re asking me if I want to go to a restaurant… With you?” Robbie said slowly, frowning a little as though he was confused, and Sportacus immediately assumed the worst.

“We don’t have to if you don’t want to! We could go for a walk instead, or I could make a picnic, or-”

“No!” Robbie interrupted him, and if Sportacus had been more focused he would’ve noticed the way Robbie’s hands had started to shake slightly, an anxious look in his eyes as his grip on the spanner tightening. Or even the small smile that tugged at the sides of his mouth. “No, the restaurant is fine- good- great in fact!”

“Really?” He asked, surprised, and Robbie gave him a small nod. Sportacus beamed, surprised it had worked; he knew Robbie didn’t hate him anymore, but that didn’t necessarily equate to wanting to spend time together. “Great! I’ll pick you up at 4:30!” Robbie nodded again, his nose twitching. “See you later Robbie.” Sportacus waved as he darted back up the ladder, and it took Robbie several minutes for his brain to fully catch up to what had just happened.

_Holy shit, had Sportacutie really just asked him out on a date?!_

His first instinct was to assume it was a joke, a cruel trick of some sort to humiliate him, but Sportacus was always so _nice_ that Robbie didn’t think it was even _possible_ for him to be mean. And he’d blushed and stumbled over his words as though he was anxious that Robbie would say no…

Maybe, just maybe, he’d meant it? Robbie’s heart did a little flip in his chest at the thought, and his smile widened. Well, Robbie wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth, and if Sportacute wanted to go on a date then he sure as hell wasn’t going to refuse. 

His invention abandoned, he climbed up to his disguise machine, and slipped behind the glass tubes into his extensive wardrobe. Feeling almost giddy with excitement, and his hands still trembling a little, he searched for the perfect outfit. Nothing _too_ formal, but enough that it showed he’d made an effort. He took out his pocket watch—ugh, he only had 5 hours to get ready!

Already planning his makeup in his head, he grabbed a velvet tailcoat, the fabric soft under his hands, and he began to picture the rest of the outfit.

“I’m going to look _so good_ , Sportaflip isn’t going to be able to keep his hands to himself!” He grinned, dancing between the rails of clothes. Oh, he couldn’t wait for it to be 4:30!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments/kudos bring me joy!
> 
> I hope you're having a great day :D


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This and the next chpter (and maybe one after idk) were part if a giant monster chapter that I've split up so they're more consistent lengths, so if this one ends kinda abruptly then it's because it was part of a bigger one lmao

Despite claiming to never be on time or, even worse, , for anything, _ever_ , by 4:25 Robbie was already standing beside the hatch outside his lair, anxiously tugging at the sleeves of his coat. The afternoon sun was warm on the back of his neck, but the light breeze made him pull his coat a little tighter. His gaze flickered around, never lingering on anything for more than a second, except for when he noticed a tiny scuff on his otherwise immaculately polished shoes and glared at it as though he could make it disappear through sheer force of will. It didn’t work.

As the minutes ticked closer to half past, he peered around the edge of the billboard, but there was no sign of Sportacus despite the straight, flat road meaning he could see all the way into Lazytown. Maybe it had been a prank after all, and his heart sank a little.

But then a blue blur hurtled down out of the sky, and Robbie shrieked, jumping up and clinging onto the metal supports of the billboard, his eyes screwed shut behind his designer sunglasses.

“Robbie?” A familiar voice said softly, and cautiously Robbie’s eyes flickered open again, meeting Sportacus’. And then he looked up; no ladder hung down from the airship.

“Did you seriously just fucking launch yourself out of that death trap??”

“Yes?” Sportacus smiled sheepishly, rubbing at the back of his neck and dusting down his clothes, “I’m sorry if I scared you,”

“Whatever.” Robbie lowered himself back to the ground, accepting the arm Sportacus gave him to steady himself and linking them together. Sportacus gave him a surprised look as they began to walk into Lazytown along the dirt road, but it soon changed into the same warm smile he usually wore as Robbie didn’t pull away. 

“You look good,” Sportacus said after a minute or so of silent walking, and Robbie felt his cheeks warm slightly.

“I always look good,” he huffed, disguising how his heart fluttered at the compliment.

“Even more so than normal, I mean,” Sportacus corrected himself with a laugh, “It’s nice to see you dressed up.”

“I wish I could say the same for you,” Robbie laughed as he looked Sportacus up and down; he was still wearing his hero uniform, same as he did every day.

“Oh, sorry, I mean, I don’t really have any other outfits.” 

Robbie stopped mid-step and stared at Sportacus incredulously. “Ok we are changing that, as soon as possible.” He shook his head, “You don’t look bad though.” Complimenting other people wasn’t something he did very often, and he was painfully aware of how clunky it sounded, but Sportacus didn’t seem to care.

“Thanks Robbie,” he said softly as they continued to walk again, and although Robbie didn’t say anything back, he squeezed Sportacus’ arm gently and that was response enough.

\----

The walk was longer than Robbie would usually tolerate, but he didn’t hate it—although he’d never admit it aloud, he sort of enjoyed Sportacus’ company when he wasn’t flipping around so much, and the fact he could hold onto his arm for this long wasn’t bad either. Maybe small talk was a thing he should do though; Sportacus mightn’t be finding the silence as comfortable as he was, so he rushed to find a conversation topic.

“You have nice arms,” he ended up blurting out.

_Why the fuck was that the first thing he thought of???_ Technically, he wasn’t _wrong_ ; Sportacus’ arms were tanned and toned, and Robbie had to admit in the past he’d used disguises as an excuse just to touch those biceps, but still, he didn’t need to announce the fact he had a thing for them on a _first date_. Confusion briefly fluttered across Sportacus’ face but he blushed regardless, glancing down at his arms as if deciphering what exactly was so noteworthy about them. 

“Thank you?” He replied, more of a question than anything else, and Robbie cringed.

“You’re welcome.” Ugh why did he sound so formal? Maybe he should stay away from small talk—silence was less awkward.

\----

Sportacus wasn’t quite sure why Robbie was acting so strange—he seemed more tense than usual, and his words were stilted, but he put it down to him still being tired from the migraine. Maybe they should’ve scheduled the plan for a few days’ time to let him recover better? Sportacus didn’t want to overwhelm him so soon. But he doubted he could ever force Robbie to do things, so the fact he’d showed up meant he wanted to be here, right? And he’d dressed up, far fancier than Sportacus would’ve ever expected him to, especially since to Robbie’s knowledge, this would only be a meal with a friend. But Robbie _did_ have a flair for the dramatic, and Sportacus had never really spent much time alone with him before the past week, so maybe this was a usual thing he did when going out?

“Is it okay if we stop off somewhere before the restaurant?” Sportacus asked as they entered Lazytown, breaking the silence. Robbie jumped as he spoke, startled by the sudden conversation.

“Yeah, sure.” He nodded, and Sportacus smiled brightly. The plan was working! Robbie didn’t suspect a thing! He looked down at where their arms joined, noticing how Robbie’s hand was lower than it had been before, his fingers ghosting the inside of Sportacus’ wrist, as though he wanted to hold his hand. Friends held hands all the time, didn’t they? The kids did, and so did everyone he knew back home so it must be the same for humans, right? Glancing at Robbie again, he pulled his arm away, and laced their fingers together. He didn’t notice Robbie’s sharp intake of breath at the sudden contact, nor the blush that spread over his cheeks, as he was distracted by Trixie hiding behind a nearby tree, beckoning him to hurry up.

“Come on,” he tugged at Robbie’s hand and sped up slightly, making their walk more brisk than it had previously been, and Robbie let himself be dragged along.

\----

_Sportaflip was holding his hand_. 

And not just because of some weird massage either. Robbie’s brain had damn near short circuited at the contact, and he was glad he was wearing sunglasses, because he could. Not. Stop. Staring. His heart was doing something akin to fluttering in his chest which was… strange, but not unpleasant, and the blush on his face showed no sign of leaving. Damnit, he was _Robbie Rotten_ he shouldn’t be _this_ flustered over just holding hands!

He barely paid attention to where they were going, too focused on Sportacus to care, but when they arrived at the door of what looked suspiciously like one of the brats’ houses, he couldn’t help but frown. 

“Why are we here?” Robbie eyed him suspiciously, but Sportacus just looked up at him with a grin, pushing the door open dramatically.

And Robbie’s heart sank like a stone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the cliffhanger i guess xD
> 
> Comments and kudos bring me joy <3


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's probably only 1 or 2 more plot-chapers of this fic (after this one) and it's lowkey making me sad so I may write some fluffy epilogues but idk

The kids stood just inside the doorway, sparkly party hats perched at jaunty angles on their heads and wide smiles on their faces; some held gifts wrapped in brightly patterned paper with large bows on top, and, by the way they thrust them towards him, Robbie assumed they were for him. On any other occasion he’d be pleased to receive presents, even if they were from brats, but this had all the hallmarks of a party. A party that would most definitely not just be a stop-off before a dinner date.

His eyes darting between Sportacus’ still smiling face and the kids excited expressions, it was suddenly so painfully obvious that this was… not a date. That it never would be a date, and maybe Robbie had underestimated Sportacus’ ability to be cruel, intentionally or not, because gods this hurt. 

Had he misunderstood? It hadn’t been _clarified_ that it was a date, but it had been so heavily implied that he couldn’t possibly be wrong, right? Or had Sportaflop just lied about a date to get Robbie to come along? What if he’d noticed Robbie’s _feelings_ and decided to toy with them for fun? What if-

He knew Sportacus wouldn’t do things like that but he was too upset to think rationally. He wasn’t even angry as such, just hurt, hell, _betrayed_ , and he struggled to breathe, as though all the air had been sucked out of his lungs.

His first instinct was to leave, to storm off back to his lair and eat cake until he could no longer move, but he didn’t think he could take the kicked-puppy look Sportacus and the brats would give him. So he forced his lips into an imitation of a smile and walked inside, dropping Sportacus’ hand. He’d probably be sick if he even had to look at him again. 

“We’re glad you’re feeling better Robbie!” One of the kids said, grabbing his arm and leading him into the living room, her pink hair bobbing as she skipped ahead. Inside, a party had been set up; streamers decorated the walls, and bunting hung from the ceiling. A table in the corner was piled high with snacks, and Robbie and Ziggy both immediately gravitated towards it, whilst the other kids set down the presents on the floor.

“Thanks Pinkie,” he said, grabbing a handful of pretzels from the bowl.

“It’s Stephanie,” she corrected, “But we threw this party for you! My mum’s always sad after a migraine, and I have to cheer her up, so we wanted to do the same for you!” The smile on Robbie’s face became slightly more genuine as warmth blossomed in his chest. The brats, no, the _kids_ had actually done something thoughtful, and they cared enough about him to want to make him feel better. If it weren’t for the fact that Sportacus had lied about a date then he might’ve even felt _happy_.

“I, uh- Thank you.”

“Open the presents now!” Ziggy cried out from next to Robbie, and he jumped backwards in surprise, but the child ignored it, continuing to nearly vibrate with excitement.

“No! They’re mine!” Stingy clutched a present to his chest whilst Stephanie rolled her eyes.

“How about we play some games first, and Robbie can open his presents later?” She suggested, which seemed to placate both boys, and made everyone sit on the floor in a circle. Robbie sat with his back against an armchair, next to the techy kid whose arm-computer was bleeping as swiped at some holograms, and Sportacus sat down on Robbie’s other side. Pointedly not looking at him, Robbie scooted further away, until he was much closer to, uh, Pixy was it? Pixel? than he would’ve preferred to be, but it was better than the alternative. 

The game Stephanie had chosen was pass the parcel, and she held up a large item wrapped in newspaper. Sportacus was about to offer to do the music, but the mayor entered with a pink boom box, mumbling something about being sorry that he was late before clicking the button. An upbeat pop song all the kids seemed to know the words to began to play and the parcel was passed around. 

It was met with only mild resistance from Stingy, and Robbie was grateful that the parcel passing was anticlockwise so he could just toss the parcel in Sportacus’ vague direction rather than having Sportacus hand it to him every time it passed around the circle. This way he could keep avoiding his gaze and hopefully ignore the rising feeling in his chest that made him want to scream and run away.

First it was Pixel who unwrapped it, then Trixie and Stephanie, all of them receiving a small toy or candy, and on the final round it landed on Robbie. It was probably intentional, since it was _his_ party after all, but he did feel rather pleased when he opened it to find a model train building kit. He’d enjoyed them when he was younger but he hadn’t made one in years, and it made him feel oddly nostalgic.

“What is it, Robbie?” Sportacus leaned forward to look over his shoulder at the box, and Robbie recoiled, almost falling on top of Pixel, and glared at Sportacus so harshly that his ever present smile fell away into sadness and confusion. _Good_ Robbie thought, ignoring how seeing Sportacus sad made him feel even worse.

The games continued, with Robbie winning the game of musical statues too (not moving for long periods of time _was_ a specialty of his after all) but he failed miserably at musical chairs. (“What do you mean I can’t sit down the whole time?”). He was surprised by how welcoming the kids were towards him—he _had_ tried to ruin their fun and games several times a week ever since the pink one showed up—but he guessed kids didn’t hold grudges.

After being knocked out of a particularly ruthless game of hide and seek, Robbie slouched atop the snack table, chewing on a doughnut as he stared out of the window. Spending time with the children wasn’t as awful as he’d always thought it’d be, hell they were even making an effort to be quieter, though he assumed that was only because of the migraine, and in a few days they’d be back to their unreasonable noise levels, but he appreciated their current consideration. Occasionally he even found himself laughing or smiling genuinely at a joke, but every time he caught Sportacus looking at him, his good mood disintegrated and the feelings of betrayal clawed their way back up his throat. 

“Hey Robbie,” Sportacus had managed to silently sneak up on him, and leant beside him on the table, and Robbie scowled.

“What do you want, Sportakook?” Sportacus’ face fell slightly at Robbie’s irritated tone, but he wouldn’t be deterred.

“To talk,” Sportacus said softly, “You’ve been acting strangely ever since we arrived here, I wanted to see if you’re ok.” Robbie grabbed a chocolate cupcake and bit down, maintaining eye contact with Sportacus to show quite how little he cared for the elf’s advice.

“Oh I’m fine, it’s _you_ who’s the problem,” he replied. “I thought lying went against your whole hero shtick?”

“What? I don’t understand, what did I do?” Sportacus frowned, and Robbie laughed humourlessly. He felt his hands start to shake and, after tossing the cupcake wrapper onto the table, he shoved them into his pockets to hide it. He tried to speak but it was like something was stuck in his throat, choking him. He couldn’t stay here. Not anymore.

Without responding to Sportacus’ question, he stood up sharply and darted out of the room, out of the house, slamming the door behind him. But of course Sportacus wouldn’t leave him alone that easily.

“Robbie what’s wrong? Everything was fine until we arrived at the party! Are you really that upset we didn’t go to Pablo’s?” Sportacus ran outside after Robbie, catching up to him in only a few strides, concern etched all over his face.

Robbie scoffed, ripping Sportacus’ hand from where it had grabbed his shoulder, and he spun around to face him. “Oh fu-” he caught himself before he could swear, there were children nearby after all (currently peering out of the window because apparently no one had taught them yet that snooping on adults was wrong) “Oh frick off, you know _exactly_ why I’m upset, don’t act like you don’t!” Sportacus stared at him blankly, so Robbie continued.

“I don’t know what it’s like for you _elves_ , but humans tend to get upset when you ask them on a date that turns out to be a children’s party, _especially_ when they actually would’ve wanted to go on the fuc- _fricking_ date in the first place!” 

“W- What?” Sportacus stumbled over his words, this really wasn’t what he’d expected, and Robbie glared at him. 

“You heard me.” He turned around to march back to his lair, but then Sportacus’ had was on his shoulder again, and he couldn’t hold back anymore. “Don’t fucking touch me,” he hissed, wrenching Sportacus’ hand away again.

“Robbie wait-” Sportacus pleaded as Robbie stormed away. He wanted to run after him, to explain and apologise, but he couldn’t. Something kept him rooted to the spot as he watched Robbie’s purple coat disappear behind a row of houses. “I’m sorry,” he said softly, even though Robbie was too far away to possibly hear him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter originally had a different (fluffier) ending but I switched it up because angst so... sorry about that
> 
> (I definitely didnt change it because kissing scenes are literally the bane of my existence and I cannot write them for shit...xD)
> 
> Comments and kudos are literally the highlight of my day <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what feels illegal? Eating an ice cream sundae whilst writing about Sportacus xD

Sportacus let himself slide down against the fence to the ground, his face in his hands, hoping the kids would stay away for a few minutes at least to give him a moment to think. As if that would ever happen. There was some whispering from the doorway, followed by shushing, and then soft footsteps slowly making their way towards him along the path. 

“Hey Sportacus.” He didn’t look up as Stephanie sat beside him.

“Hi Stephanie,” he said softly, his voice quiet, “I’m sorry about all that, I-” he broke off, shaking his head.

“What happened? Why was Robbie so upset? Didn’t he like the party? I thought he was having fun?” 

Sportacus turned to give her a small smile, “No, it’s my fault.” He’d really messed up this time.

“Why? What did you do?”

“I-” He took a deep breath and exhaled shakily, “I think there was a misunderstanding—when I asked Robbie to come to the party I pretended we were going to Pablo’s for dinner, so this would be a surprise. But Robbie… didn’t think it would be as friends.” 

“Oh,” she said, her knowing tone indicating she’d understood what he meant. 

“Yeah,” he played with a loose thread on his trousers anxiously, “But I’m sure he appreciated the party.” 

Stephanie frowned, and ignored what he’d said. “So are you going to go after him?”

“What?”

“You know Robbie! If you don’t follow him _now_ he’ll keep being upset _forever_!” Sportacus looked at her doubtfully, but she continued, “And you’re always telling us how if someone’s your friend you should always try and make it up to them if you mess up. And Robbie’s your friend.” 

Sighing, Sportacus nodded, pushing himself to his feet and offering her a hand to get up too. “You’re right, thank you Stephanie,” he said after a moment, and she grinned. “Will you and the others be ok if I-” Stephanie cut him off with an eye roll.

“ _Go_!” She said in mock exasperation, laughing as she watched him race away down the street. Turning back to where all the other kids were not so subtly hiding in the doorway, she gave them a thumbs up. “He’s going to fix it,” she said assuredly, keeping her fingers crossed that he’d be successful.

\----

Sportacus hadn’t thought it was possible to melancholically backflip for the entire mile and a half it took to get to Robbie’s lair, since flipping usually raised his spirits, but now, as he stood beside the hatch, preparing to knock, his hands trembled and his chest felt tight. The anger and betrayal had been so raw on Robbie’s face, the pain in his voice—it almost broke Sportacus’ heart to think it was his fault, that it was his stupidity that had hurt Robbie. But it had. And now he had to fix it.

As he was about to knock on the hatch though, he stopped. _”Especially when they would’ve wanted to go on the date in the first place”_ Robbie had said. Sportacus hadn’t realised it before, at least not properly, or maybe it had taken this long for the implications to sink in, but Robbie wanted to go on a date. An actual date. With _him._ A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth; maybe this apology wouldn’t go as badly as he’d thought.

\----

Tapping three times on the hatch, he jumped straight down into it, not waiting for the ‘go away!’ that would inevitably come. He landed in the lair in near darkness, only the lamp beside Robbie’s chair was lit, illuminating the figure of Robbie curled up impossibly small, wrapped in his blanket with an entire cake balanced on his knees. He glared right at Sportacus, grey eyes cold, and slightly reddened, as though he’d been crying.

“I- I’m sorry,” Sportacus said softly as he took a step towards Robbie. “I promise I didn’t know you thought it was a date.” It sounded pathetic and he knew it, but he had to at least try and make Robbie believe him.

“You ask me to go to _dinner_ with you, you compliment my outfit, you _hold my hand_ and you _didn’t think it was a date_?!” Robbie snapped, his voice rough, “Not even you could be _that_ oblivious.” Ouch. That hurt, but Sportacus couldn’t deny the truth of it.

“Human culture is so different to mine, I don’t always understand parts of it… I can’t say dating etiquette is one of my strong points.” He explained, looking away and breaking their eye contact. He moved a little closer. “I really didn’t mean to lead you on.” Robbie scoffed, but he seemed less angry, so Sportacus bit his lip and spoke again. “But would you want to? Go on a date?” That was the wrong thing to say, apparently, as Robbie’s glare intensified.

“Fuck off, you can’t trick me like that twice,” he growled, retreating further back into his chair and brandishing the cake towards him like a shield as Sportacus came even closer.

“I mean it. Really. It’s not a trick.” Sportacus stared at him, his blue eyes wide. “I like you.” 

He sounded so genuine and honest that Robbie almost believed him.

“Prove it.” Robbie hated the wobble in his voice. Hated it hated it hated it. Sportacus had already made him weak, but he didn’t need his own voice to betray him by emphasising that fact.

Sportacus only hesitated for a second before stepping forward, moving the cake from Robbie’s lap to the floor, and reaching to cup Robbie’s cheek, his thumb tracing over his cheekbone lightly. Robbie’s breath hitched as he was suddenly a lot closer to those gorgeous blue eyes than he’d ever anticipated to be, but he didn’t pull away. Instead he leant into the touch, despite his instincts telling him to do anything else. Robbie’s nose twitched and he bit at his lip nervously, time seemingly freezing around them and Sportacus could’ve sworn they spent an eternity like that; gazing at each other, so close, but not quite close enough, and Sportacus could feel Robbie’s anger and hurt melting away under his hand with every passing moment.

But then Sportacus leaned forward, pressing their lips together gently; a barely-there kiss filled with tenderness, and this time Robbie’s brain really did short circuit. He raised one arm to Sportacus’ bicep as they both moved apart, his heart pounding in his chest. There was a soft smile on Sportacus’ face, and Robbie was pretty sure he was mirroring it.

“Is that enough proof for you?” Sportacus whispered, nervous he’d overstepped a boundary, and Robbie hummed as if thinking deeply.

“I’m not sure, you’ll have to do it again to find out.” 

Sportacus beamed, leaning in to kiss him again, and this time Robbie kissed back. He hadn’t kissed anyone in a long while, so he was probably out of practice, but Sportacus either didn’t notice or didn’t care, his moustache tickling Robbie’s lip and making him giggle softly. 

A minute or so later, as they pulled apart again, Robbie nibbled at his lip. “Do you want to stay over again?” He asked, moving over in the chair so there was more room. “I’m not implying that we do anything yet, I meant I’d like to, uh, cuddle, or-” he tried to clarify, but Sportacus cut him off.

“I’d love to!” He smiled, and something fluttered in Robbie’s chest, sending ripples of warmth through his body. Sportacus kicked off his boots and jumped onto the chair next to Robbie, both of them moving so they lay facing each other. Robbie reached for Sportacus’ hand, lacing their fingers together and relishing the blush that spread over his cheeks.

“So you forgive me?” Sportacus asked softly a few minutes later, and Robbie took a deep breath, his forehead creasing a little.

“I will, if you let me do one thing,” he replied cryptically. 

Sportacus nodded. “Anything.”

A mischievous smile danced over Robbie’s lips as his free hand darted out, snatching the hat from Sportacus’ head and throwing it behind him. “Ha! I knew you were secretly blond! And I didn’t even need to use my machine!”

“It wasn’t a secret,” Sportacus laughed as Robbie gently tangled his hand in Sportacus’ hair. “Wait, what do you mean ‘your machine’?”

Robbie immediately pretended to be asleep and ignored the question. 

Rolling his eyes and chuckling a little, Sportacus leant into Robbie’s side, closing his eyes. It wasn’t 8:08 yet, so he wouldn’t fall asleep, but being this close to Robbie was comforting. It was so similar to a few nights ago, and yet it couldn’t be more different. But Sportacus wasn’t complaining about the changes, not one single bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter killed me; I think I re-wrote that kissing scene about 20 million times but we're back to Fluff! Yay!
> 
> Comments and kudos bring me joy! <3
> 
> Also, I got instagram so follow me if you want :D @versti_fantur_sem_eg_veit


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's kinda short but its fluffy as hell :D

Honestly Sportacus could easily get used to waking up like this, with his head against Robbie’s chest, listening to his soft snoring. He hadn’t expected Robbie to be like this; he seemed to be all sharp edges and pointy elbows, but now Sportacus knew better—Robbie was soft, his long arms wrapped around Sportacus’ shoulders like a protective blanket he never wanted to leave. And he didn’t have to, not this time.

He knew that soon he’d fully wake up and would need to run around, do his usual morning exercises, but he didn’t feel the pent up energy fizzling through him just yet, so he could allow himself a few more minutes curled up next to Robbie. Closing his eyes again, he felt Robbie’s hand move to gently run through his hair, and he gave a small pleased hum.

“You awake, Sportasnooze?” Robbie’s voice was thick with sleep, but Sportacus could tell he was smiling.

“Yeah,” he wriggled backwards a little so he could look up at Robbie, “I didn’t think you’d be, it’s only”—he flicked open one of his bracers to reveal a clock—“6:42”

Robbie groaned, detangling one of his arms from Sportacus to rub his eyes. “We went to sleep at 7pm, but this is _far_ too early to be awake.” He finally opened his eyes again, finding Sportacus chuckling. 

“This is late for me, I’m pretty sure sunrise was almost an hour ago.”

“Who the _hell_ wakes up at sunrise?!” 

“Me!” Sportacus grinned, and Robbie leant his face into the fluff of the chair. This elf was clearly a lunatic.

“Stop being so _cheerful_ , some of us need _sleep_!”

“Come on, we could have a walk around Lazytown before all the kids wake up!” Sportacus suddenly felt the need to move, so reluctantly squirmed out from under Robbie’s arm and jumped off the chair into a cartwheel

“No!” He shook his head vehemently as Sportacus laughed. 

“I’ll see you later then, Robbie!” Sportacus flipped towards the ladder and Robbie panicked.

“You can’t leave,” he said, lunging out of the chair to where he’d thrown Sportacus’ hat. “Not if I’m holding _this_ hostage!” Sportacus momentarily froze in place, realising he was hatless, but after a second a mischievous smile crept onto his face and he backflipped across the lair, halting just in front of Robbie, who was holding the hat as high up as his long arms would allow. Which was substantially higher than Sportacus’ head, but Sportacus could jump almost unnaturally high.

Robbie had already thought of this, however, and ran backwards to climb up onto his chair, giving himself another foot or so of height advantage. Sportacus’ face suddenly slid into the picture of innocence, and he batted his eyes up at Robbie. 

“You’re cute when you scheme.” Robbie’s face flushed crimson, and Sportacus took advantage of his guard dropping to jump up—doing the splits in mid-air and grabbing his hat from Robbie’s outstretched hand. “Aha!”

“Damn it!” Robbie cried once he realised he’d been tricked, making a swipe for the hat again but Sportacus was already out of reach. He realised mid-grab that he’d severely misjudged numerous factors and he was on a direct trajectory to hit the floor. He braced for impact, his arms around his head, but it never came. Instead when he opened his eyes, it was to Sportacus’ arms cradling him, inches from the floor but safe nonetheless. 

“Put me down Sportasave.” Robbie rolled his eyes, but wrapped his arms behind Sportacus’ neck, so it wasn’t technically possible for him to comply.

“I’m leaving whether you let go or not. I need to go for a run!” Sportacus lifted Robbie higher and whispered in his ear, his moustache tickling Robbie’s face.

“ _Fine,_ ” Robbie sighed dramatically and allowed Sportacus to lay him back down on the chair, his blush deepening as Sportacus kissed him on the cheek before flipping back to the ladder.

“See you soon!” Sportacus blew him a kiss before darting up the ladder, leaving Robbie with a fuzzy feeling throughout his whole body, like a warm hug. It wasn’t… unpleasant… and he let it settle over him as he made himself comfortable again in the chair, stretching out his arms with a satisfying pop. But it felt empty without Sportacus there, damnit. Muttering to himself about stupid cute sports elves ruining his nap time, Robbie dressed and ate, before grabbing his pillow and climbing out of the lair to find a comfortable bench to doze on instead.

\----

“Hey Sportacus!” Trixie shouted as she zoomed past him on a skateboard as the other kids began to congregate near the treehouse, and Sportacus chuckled.

“Hi Trixie!” He called back, and she gave him a thumbs up before disappearing behind some trees. She’d evidently been practicing, since last week she struggled to stay on it for more than a few metres. “Let’s play some football!” He suggested, and was met with cheers as they all ran over to the sports field. 

“Sportacus, did you make up with Robbie?” Stephanie asked after a few games, leaning against the wall whilst she drank from her bright pink water bottle.

“I did,” Sportacus said, smiling warmly, and he blushed a little as he remembered the previous night.

“More like ‘made out’ with Robbie,” a voice from behind the nearby wall corrected, and Sportacus nearly tripped mid-jumping jack, his blush spreading all the way to the tips of his ears whilst Stephanie giggled.

“Robbie!” Sportacus vaulted over the wall to see a bench converted into a makeshift bed, with a grinning Robbie lying in it.

“Call it payback for earlier,” he winked, and Sportacus rolled his eyes. Were they really going to tell the kids already?

“ _You_ stole _my_ hat!”

“Semantics,” Robbie dismissed, as Stephanie peeked over the wall at them.

“Are you two dating now?” She jumped up to sit on the wall, swinging her legs and occasionally kicking Robbie’s bench.

“What??” Sportacus said at the same time Robbie grabbed his hand and replied “Yes!” Sportacus frowned as they both turned to look at the other. 

“Are we?” He glanced down at Robbie for reassurance, who nodded. “Then yes.” 

Sportacus beamed as he squeezed Robbie’s hand, but Stephanie folded her arms, looking mildly annoyed, and Sportacus panicked. He hadn’t thought about whether the kids might not like him and Robbie dating, but his worries were soon eased as Stephanie spoke again.

“Darn it, that means I owe Pixel $5.” She shook her head as she jumped off the wall and ran back over to the other kids, secretly whispering something to Pixel, who cheered and yelled “Go Robbie!”

“Why are they congratulating _me_? _You’re_ the one who got lucky,” Robbie huffed, “Not everyone gets to be with someone as handsome as me, you know.” Sportacus laughed and bent down to kiss him, still holding onto Robbie’s hand.

“I know,” Sportacus whispered, his eyes sparkling, and the fuzzy feeling in Robbie’s chest came back. He could definitely get used to this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe this is the last chapter? Maybe not? I havent decided yet lmao Anyway I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> Comments/kudos give me life <3


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back !! @Tequila_Joseph666 suggested this plot arc so thank you!! :D It was meant to be one chapter but I got a little carried away so now it's two oops
> 
> Also yes, I changed my username but dont worry, it's still me!

It was fairly early in the morning, with the birds still chirping as the sky brightened to a comforting pale blue, when Sportacus’ flipping around the town square was interrupted by the beeping of a car horn behind him. He jumped out of the way, expecting it to pass by, but instead he was greeted by Stingy, who hastily climbed out of his car and ran towards him, excitedly waving a sheet of yellow paper in the air.

“Here you go!” Stingy thrust paper into Sportacus’ hands, a wide smile on his face. He wore a sparkly badge with the number 9 in bright yellow, and a crown; but only one of those things was out of the ordinary.

“What’s this?” Sportacus asked as he opened the envelope, pulling out another yellow sheet of paper from inside, though he already had a sneaking suspicion about what might be happening.

“My birthday party is this afternoon! You _have_ to come.” Stingy proudly displayed his birthday badge and Sportacus hummed approvingly.

As he glanced over the invitation, he nodded. “Of course!”

“The invite is for Robbie too, so can you tell him?” Stingy pointed to the names on the paper, to make sure Sportacus hadn’t missed it. 

“We’ll both be there, I promise.” 

Stingy grinned, jumping back into his little car and starting to drive away before suddenly stopping and reversing, almost crashing into a wall.

“Remember to bring me presents!!” he said, his voice rather shrill, and Sportacus chuckled, nodding.

“Don’t worry Stingy, I won’t forget.” He folded the paper and slipped it into his pocket, watching closely as Stingy drove away, hoping to ensure another road accident wouldn’t happen before back flipping away to Robbie’s lair.

\----

“I’m not going.” Robbie fiddled with a dial on the back of his automatic wardrobe machine, jumping back when it released a cloud of steam into his face. He could’ve sworn the machine wasn’t hydraulically powered, but then again it had been a while since he’d built it, and who would break into his lair and change it anyway?

“Please Robbie?” 

“No! I’m busy.” He turned away from Sportacus so he couldn’t see that adorably sad look in his eyes that would make him cave in and agree to anything. But before he could refuse again, Sportacus crept up behind him, wrapping his arms around Robbie’s waist in a hug. Already, Robbie’s resolve was crumbling, and he mentally cursed his boyfriend for being so damn cute.

“Please?” Sportacus murmured as he stood on his tiptoes to kiss the side of Robbie’s jaw, and Robbie sighed, partially from exasperation, but also because being kissed by Sportacus was always so _nice_ that he wanted to do it again.

“Fine,” Robbie relented, turning around and draping his arms around Sportacus’ neck, “But only if you do something for me.”

Sportacus beamed, “Anything.”

“Kiss me.”

\----

“You always end up distracting me,” Robbie said, resting his chin on top of Sportacus’ head, having discarded the offending hat a good 45 minutes prior, as they curled up together in the fluffy orange chair. His fingers were tangled in Sportacus’ hair, softly combing through the curls as Sportacus relaxed against his chest. “I needed to fix that, or next time I get changed it could spin so much I take off.” 

Sportacus laughed, the sound vibrating through Robbie’s chest. “Shouldn’t you be getting ready soon for Stingy’s party?” 

Robbie frowned, taking out his pocket watch and flipping it open. “When did you say it started?”

“4, why?” Sportacus recalled from the invitation. Robbie handed the watch over to Sportacus, who immediately jumped to his feet.

“We’re going to be _late_??”

“And we haven’t got him a gift either…” Even Robbie sounded mildly worried at that fact, since he knew how badly it usually ended for someone who came between Stingy and material possessions. Their eyes met, both mirroring the same panicked expression, and seemed to formulate a plan without words. Sportacus grabbed Robbie’s hand, pulling him up from the chair and towards the ladder. Robbie grumbled something under his breath about not being able to dress up, but if Sportacus heard him he ignored it, practically dragging him up the ladder.

Once they were outside the hatch, Sportacus let go of Robbie’s hand. “Get on.”

“What?”

“I’m giving you a piggyback, unless you want to run into Lazytown?”

Robbie rolled his eyes, but climbed onto the hatch so he could get onto Sportacus’ back easier, frantically clutching at Sportacus’ shoulders as he started to sprint full speed down the road. He made sure to keep his eyes firmly shut—he didn’t think it was reasonable for a person to travel this fast, and he’d be lying if he said it didn’t make him feel vaguely nauseous. Ugh, Sportacus was making him all _nice_ and _soft_ , a few weeks ago he’d _never_ put himself through moderate discomfort for a child’s happiness, but look at him now.

Thankfully, it wasn’t long before Sportacus stopped in front of a toy store, letting Robbie slide off his back onto the floor in a puddle of limbs. Robbie dusted himself off and stood up as Sportacus tried the door handle—it was locked.

“Why is it shut?” Sportacus thought aloud as Robbie rolled his eyes.

“They shut at noon on Sundays, read the sign,” he said, pointing to the poster in the doorway, and Sportacus frowned, fiddling with his moustache as he tried to think of any other shops they could visit.

“I guess I might have an invention that might be something he’d like, back at the lair…” Robbie said after Sportacus had spent a minute or two in a handstand, trying to think.

“Really?” Sportacus looked up at him with an expression of such happiness and joy that Robbie’s heart melted a little. He jumped to his feet and enveloped Robbie in a hug. “Thank you!”

Blushing, Robbie hugged back, realising as he leant his head on Sportacus’ that they had left his hat back at the lair. That made getting back there even more of a priority than usual, but he couldn’t help but feel rather pleased that Sportacus had become so comfortable around him that he’d allowed Robbie to become used to seeing him without his hat. In some strange way, he felt honoured. But that was a train of thought for later; they had a job to do.

“Come on,” he pulled back after a moment, leaning in for a quick kiss before jumping up onto Sportacus’ back again, “We’ve got a present to find and a party to get to!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments/kudos are the best things ever! <3


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to @Tequila_Joseph666 for the ideas for this arc :D Sorry this part took so long !
> 
> Lots of fluff and stuff in this chapter!

“Where _is_ he? He promised he’d be here!” Stingy shrieked, staring out of the window with his fists clenched, as though Sportacus would magically appear just because he wanted him to.

“I’m sure he’s just saving someone or some other heroic act! He won’t be long,” the mayor reassured him, but as the minutes passed, even he began to lose his certainty; Sportacus was never _this_ late.

“I bet its Robbie’s fault!” Trixie added, not looking up from the video game she was playing on the TV, and shooting some ninjas. “He’s probably trapped Sportacus in one of his schemes again.”

“He doesn’t _do_ that anymore,” Stephanie said, rolling her eyes, “They’re _dating_ , so he obviously doesn’t want him to leave now.”

“He’s still a villain though,” Trixie replied, before whooping in delight as she beat the level.

“Come on, you know Robbie’s just a big softie,” Stephanie laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

“Ugh,” Stingy slid to the ground with a frown and a huff, “this is the worst birthday party ever!”

“How about you open your presents then?” Pixel suggested, handing over a large box with a yellow ribbon, and the corners of Stingy’s mouth twitched upwards just a little. When he took the box, it wasn’t so much snatched as it was gently taken, and he smiled tentatively as he opened it, revealing a fancy set of colouring pencils in a wooden case.

“Thank you!” he set the pencils down and hugged his friend—the gift _had_ cheered him up a little bit.

“No problem,” Pixel grinned, sitting down on the floor next to him with a bump.

“Can I have a go??” Ziggy cried, reaching for them, but Stingy hurriedly moved them out of his grasp with a panicked look in his eye.

“They’re _mine_!!” He screwed up his face into That Stingy Look ™, and Ziggy backed away, slightly intimidated, whilst Pixel tried to hide his chuckles. But as the silence descended once more, interrupted only by the beeps and boops from Trixie’s game, Stingy’s face fell again. Where the hell was Sportacus?

\----

Suddenly, all the kids’ heads snapped towards the door in unison as a blue blur dashed inside, a bedraggled-looking Robbie clinging to his back with a purple box clutched tightly in his hand. Even _Sportacus_ looked a little tired, which was highly unusual.

“Sportacus!” Stingy jumped to his feet, grinning widely. “Oh, and Robbie too.”

“Thanks kid,” Robbie said dryly, groaning as Sportacus bent down to allow him to climb off, and immediately slumped into the nearest chair, his legs dangling over the side. Ms Busybody, who had just bustled in from the other room after them, glanced between them and gave them a knowing look, winking too for good measure. Robbie had to physically restrain himself from flipping her off in front of the children. He shoved the box in Sportacus’ vague direction and shut his eyes—all the running about had been far too exhausting and he might as well try and have a quick nap. Sportacus took it and glanced apologetically around the room.

“I’m sorry Stingy, we didn’t mean to be late,” Sportacus chewed at his lip, “We were busy-”

“Finding you a present!” Robbie interrupted, “Now open it and stop being sad.”

Stingy giggled, taking the offered gift and unwrapping it, taking care not to rip the paper, and setting the bow to the side before lifting off the lid. There was a tense silence as he stared at the contents, momentarily dumbstruck, before his face lit up. As he lifted the gift out of the box, the other kids crowded around to see what it was, and a chorus of “cool!” and “Woah!” was heard.

“This is _so cool_!” Stingy exclaimed, “What is it?”

“A device of my own genius invention,” Robbie drawled from the chair, rolling his eyes at the look Sportacus gave him. “If you press that big button there-” he pointed to the device, which had flashing lights down one side and several prongs on the other, “-actually you’ll figure it out.” He gestured vaguely to emphasise his point. “Just don’t point it at people or animals you don’t want to explode or something.”

“ _Robbie,_ ” Sportacus poked him, and Robbie sighed.

“ _Fine_ , bring it here.” He sat up properly in the chair, moving over so Stingy could sit beside him, and repositioned the device in Stingy’s hands. “You point this bit here at something, like that lamp over there,” he twisted one of the prongs to point to the lamp, “And then you adjust this dial-” Stingy obediently spun it, listening intently. “And now you press the button!”

A little hesitantly, Stingy pressed it, holding the device steady with his other hand, and watched in awe as a stream of light shot out from the prongs, and the lamp changed colour from a dull beige to a vibrant orange. He turned, amazed, to stare at Robbie in wonder. 

“You made this? For me?”

Robbie nodded. “Yes.” Stingy was practically vibrating with excitement as he twisted the dial again and pointed it at a box of candy. Within an instant it was a soft baby pink, and Ziggy jumped up to try some. So enthralled with his new toy was Stingy, that he didn’t even utter a “that’s mine!” when Ziggy ate a chocolate, merely pointed the device again and bam! The curtains were now as yellow as his waistcoat.

Robbie looked up to find Sportacus smiling warmly at him, and his stomach did the flippy thing again. Once he was certain Stingy wasn’t about to kill anyone with the device, he shuffled a little further away, beckoning Sportacus to sit on the arm of the chair. As he did, he reached his arm around Robbie’s shoulders, and Robbie subconsciously leant into him—a few weeks ago this sort of physical contact would’ve been outrageous, but now he found he’d grown used to it, hell, he even liked it. He liked it a lot.

They stayed like that for a while as the kids began playing party games—games which currently consisted of whacking a piñata with a stick and giggling—and Sportacus gently traced pictures onto Robbie’s shoulder. It tickled a little, and Robbie couldn’t tell what they were, but he didn’t mind. He laced his hand with Sportacus’ free one and rested his head on Sportacus’ shoulder. It was odd, he supposed, how he didn’t hate spending time around the children anymore- No. He’d never hated it, not really. He wouldn’t have done schemes that involved them for so long if he had. But now he could wholeheartedly say he was enjoying it. The sense of almost paternal pride when Stingy had got the device to work left a fuzzy feeling in his chest, and Sportacus’ encouraging smile had made it even better. 

Pulling Sportacus closer, he inhaled deeply and let himself relax. This was what being truly happy felt like, he was certain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got no comments on the last part-it made me sad :'(
> 
> But anyway! Comments and kudos make me so happy :D


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right ok I realised I forgot to post this here and its been sitting in my insta for a while so here it is! The chapter notes/planning stuff for all the preceding chapters! Maybe they're funny, who knows! I hope you enjoy!
> 
> (I apologise if some of this is incomprehensible, but it adds nothing to the plot so dont worry if it doesnt make sense or anything) :D

1.

Robbie migraine and oof it hurtssss but sportaloud clank into lair make big noise Robbie-“stfu !!1!2” sportasorry… make warm milk and go—robb drinks it is mildly happier ayy :)

2.

Kiddos louuuddd sport says quiet!!! 4 rob plz! Kids be less loud. Later sportanice takes soup to robbiii its cute as heccc (soup store!! soup store!!!) robb doesn’t want soup but drinks anyway cuz sportaflop is too nice and cute aaaaa

3.

Sportanerd stunts 4 kids asks about soup store pixel explain but sportaweirdo is just whaaaaaaaaaat?? Robbo bored sporty arrives ACCUPRESSURE (aka cute massage time omgggg) sleepy snuggles asdfghjk cuteeeeee

4.

Sportasnooze wakes up and is warm and cozy and aaa cuz he <3 the cuddles but oh no! might be bad for Robbie!! So leaves to do sports. Robbb wakes up later and is sadddd & hopes didn’t embarrass himself by snuggling sportacutie (spoilers he did) so he eat alllll the cake. Alsoo!! Kids have secret plan!!

5.

Sportastare at Robbie its cute and they awkwarddd… more soup!! Later Sportanerd tries to do the kids plan—he ask robbo to go to dinner with him OH NO robb thinks it’s a date??!?!?!?! But sportastupid doesn’t realise??? Oh no… Robb very happy tho and excited

6.

SportaFLIP notrmal clothes rob sad boi robbo thinks date they hold hands (!!!!!) and its smol and cute asdfghjkl; 

7.

They go to kids surprise partayyyyy robb paniccc its not a date oh no yelling and screaming and both r v sad oh nooooo sportasad and Robbie storms off

8.

Stephanie (aka awesome) makes Sportaflip follow Robbie and in lair more yelling but then ohhhhhhhhh I <3 u2 and robbo kiss him n more sleepy cuddles aaaaa

9

Short n fluffyyyy scenes!! w/ robbieeee stealing sportacute’s hat then getting “revenge” (for what lmao?) by telling kids about them dating (sleeping on bench ??) and haha pixel n stephie had a bet lmao

10.

Here u go! Uwu wots this? Birthdayyyy!!! Sure ill come Bring robbb.-- Sportapuppydogeyes pweez? He <3 ur inventions n smarts sigh fine but only cuz ur going n ur cute n that’s ur only redeeming characteristic cuddleeee ohnonono shops r shut gotta get stingy present aASDFHHGGF 

11.

At party stingy is sad :( kids try games but no fun cuz sportaflop not there. Suddenly they arrive! Stinge loves his present and cute fluffy stuff + paternal Robbie cuz its cute

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies.
> 
> Comments/kudos brighten my day!

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Radioactive by Marina & the Diamonds


End file.
